A “Terminator” Tube attacker has been found guilty of hacking into a commuter with a machete.
In a panic, passengers fell over each other as they fled through carriages as the man launched an unprovoked attack on the stranger, the Old Bailey learned.
Attacker Ricky Morgan, 34, heard terrified onlookers say, “This is not a terror attack; I just want it.”
The victim, James Porritt, who suffered a serious hand injury, told jurors it resembled a “horror movie” and the Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi movie Terminator.
Morgan denied attempted murder on the grounds of insanity but was found guilty by a jury at the Old Bailey after two days of deliberation.
Following the verdicts, police released CCTV graphic footage showing Morgan screaming and slamming into the carriage with the machete as terrified members rushed to get away.
Detective Sergeant Nick Thompson of the British Transport Police said: “This was a brutal and unprovoked attack. The two men had never spoken, never met, and had never met until that day.
“It was clearly a terrifying situation for the victim. He was able to escape, but this attack and the injuries he suffered still have a major impact on his life.”
On the evening of July 9 last year, Porritt, a self-employed businessman, was boarding a train in Westminster bound for a meeting with his girlfriend and her father in West London when Morgan pulled a machete and lock knife from his backpack.
Porritt had checked his phone and was nervous about the family gathering when he heard a scream.
The next thing he knew, the suspect was hitting him on the head, the court was told.
“I begged ‘please, please stop,'” he told the jury.
“I was in shock; it was like a horror movie. I really thought he was going to kill me.”
Porritt said he didn’t feel anything but saw the blood when Morgan hit an object on the head.
He said: “I didn’t understand why this man hit me. There was no confrontation. There was no problem, it was just bang, (he) started hitting me.
“He was like a machine. It was like that movie Terminator.
“He was emotionless. He didn’t seem to have any compassion at all. But it seemed very focused and relentless, and he was determined to do what he was doing… I really thought I was going to die.
“I just knew, fight or flight. I just ran for my life. It was like a stampede; people were terrified.”
According to witnesses, passengers got up and screamed as the attacker started brandishing the knife.
Many tried to run away but ended up piled on the ground in panic, the court heard.
Morgan, who refused to testify in court, will be sentenced in July.